Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will soon have the clear authority to proactively mail out checks of any size from the $20 billion pot of “lost money” he oversees — but he’s wary of using it too aggressively.

DiNapoli recently told the public radio program The Capitol Pressroom that his office intends to “slow roll” automatic returns, citing concerns that checks, especially in larger amounts, could be sent to the wrong addresses and lead to fraud.

“People are always trying to scam everything these days, right?” he said. “I don’t want to send a $5,000 check without 100 percent assurance that it’s going to somebody who, in fact, is entitled to it.”

YES.

New York state significantly undercounted Covid-19 nursing home deaths in 2020 by excluding residents who died in hospitals. This reporting practice made the state’s mortality ranking appear lower than it was.

New York’s public radio and TV stations are facing major blows to their budgets after Congress two weeks ago approved a bill that cancelled over $1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB.

Twenty-seven media organizations in New York, including 18 public radio and TV stations, receive funding from the CPB for line items ranging from broadcasting and transmission to content development and community outreach.

In total, the state’s public media organizations stand to lose at least $57 million in federal funding over two years, according to estimates that CPB funding recipients shared with New York Focus. Nearly $50 million of that will come from the budgets of public radio and TV stations, while roughly $7.6 million will come from the budgets of other types of public media organizations.